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In my opinion schools are not doing enough to identify children with Dyslexia! I am a 21 year old male, who throughout his education has always noticed something was lacking in my written work. It took me a long time to get my parents to notice, and was even harder to get my school and college to notice too.
Children with Dyslexia are not dummies...
As I attended University, I had a chat with my tutor about this personal subject, and was taken straight to the correct people who would help me find out if there was a problem. Now children with Dyslexia are not dummies, in fact some of THE MOST intelligent people were Dyslexic; examples of these being Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Woodrow Wilson.
After all the correct tests, I was diagnosed with Dyslexia and was told that if I was diagnosed in my secondary school that I would have had a better chance of obtaining the grades needed to study medicine at university. The tester was disgusted with the late diagnosis and was even wrote to my local education board expressing his disappointment because the tests revealed that I have an IQ of well into Mensa selection.
Is your child brilliant at practical and spoken assessments, able to identify problems at a glance and on paper seem very able? However, do they have a short attention span and tend to struggle somewhat with writing? If this sounds familiar lease get them checked out because they will be given all the help they needed to progress and become more than a so called "slow" child. You will receive funding for help from private tutors and even equipment.
Do people think that all schools should screen children for Dyslexia? It is a growing problem and these children are not being helped in the correct way to give them a chance at life.
By: Annoyed Student
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hi my name is alex wen I was at primery school before I found out I was dyslexia teachers thought I was lazzy and not making efort it wasnt till I was at secondray that I found out I was dyslexic but by then it seemed to late to do anything about now it seems def to late to do anything about. my friend thinks I should make a cliam against my primery school do you think e-mail me at ecky_ranger_no1@hotmail.co.uk
02/12/10 eck
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I am 23 and recently decided to retrain pursuing a career in medicine. I was always excelling in Maths and science at school however I struggled with written English; within 2 weeks of starting my current course my teacher suggested I had a dyslexia assessment, I was finally diagnosed with dyslexia last week. I am somewhat annoyed that my English teacher (who I had for 5 years from 11-16years) was unable to notice my difficulties even though I was in top set for lots of other classes. I'm hopeful that now I have the right support I will be able to succeed in medicine next year.
16/11/10 Lee
4
Just had a quick squizz on the Dyslexia Institute Website. According to Government statistics, around 5% of children have SpLD's (Specific Learning Difficulties) - 5 children in 100. The overwhelming majority of that 5% are dyslexic. So let's take a very low percentage of that figure to play devil's advocate, and say only 1% of all children are dyslexic. That is 1 in 100. 1 in 100 is not "very rare". 1 in 1,000 would be considered "very rare". The percentage is of course higher - probably 3% - 3 children in 100 have dyslexia. My daughter is not dyslexic, but she suffers from ADHD and an SpLD called Semantic & Pragmatic Language Disorder. She also I believe suffers from dyscalculia, as I do, but is not diagnosed for it. She had a Statement of SEN's (Statement of Special Educational Needs), and eventually after years of battling with our LEA, we won her funding to attending a specialist boarding school at the age of 13, where she went from being a complete academic failure, having never passed an exam in her life, including two attempts at her SATs and failed both miserably, to leaving this school at the age of 18 with 6 good GCSE passes. She is now working in the NHS, and we are incredibly proud of her. She went to college and got her diploma in Child Care & Education, the equivalent of doing 3 'A' levels. When she went to boarding school, she didn't even know her times tables and could barely add up, multiply and divide.
09/11/10 Nikki
10
Dyslexia is NOT very rare, what a load of nonsense!! I am not sure of the statistics, but it is certainly not very rare! My daughter attended a specialist boarding school, the majority of whose pupils were dyslexic, but taking her previous "normal schools", her best friend had severe dyslexia, as did her elder sister, there were 2 or 3 other children in this very small village primary school also with diagnosed dyslexia. At her senior school, there were at least 20 children with SEN's, diagnosed with Dyslexia. And all this is in a remote part of the countryside. I agree with you that maybe half a class being diagnosed with Dyslexia is an eyebrow raiser though - do they all have Statements? Who diagnosed them?
09/11/10 Nikki
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After reading your article I agree that children with dyslexia are not being recognised in the school system. My son has gone through all through school without the problem being noticed and it was only myself on discovering I had dyslexia while studying at university realised what my sons problems were. I arranged for a test which found that he also had dyslexia. At the assessment the educational psychologist has also referred him to an occupational therapist as he also thinks he may also have dispraxia. It makes me wonder just how many children are going undiagnosed and not achieving their full potential at shcool.
08/11/10 chrissy
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Dyslexia is a very rare problem and it has become increasingly used as an excuse by parents and teachers for children who are not learning as quick as others - I think that this has led to genuine cases being 'tarred with the same brush' as those students and parents who use the condition as an excuse. I am a teacher in a low income, low educational attainment area and I have some classes where over half of the class has been diagnosed with the condition. I just don't think it is taken seriously because of this trend.
14/10/10 Tina
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hi my son is now 9 and school found him to do slower than other children they found out when he was 4 , the school still dont give him the support he needs,im frustrated as I am dislexic and no he needs help but school have let this drag on now,very disapointed.
22/01/10 newby
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GLC : many people have been diagnosed with various SpLD's posthumously (spelling?? !). As far as Winston Churchill is concerned, I think what you had there is a person who very obviously was not stupid, but academically he failed to thrive at school. I believe he had ADHD, possibly the P.I. sub type that my daughter has, but what we find now with children at school where there is this failure to succeed academically, despite being otherwise intelligent children, thankfully these children are being picked up on by the specialist services such as CAMHS, and treated. When my daughter was young, she was labelled as "thick" because she did not achieve academically. We knew she was not thick, she was bright, alert, and it was as clear as the nose on your face that she had ADHD. At 14 she was also diagnosed as having Semantic & Pragmatic Language Disorder, which is classified as a SpLD.
04/01/10 Nikki
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Sorry I haven't been back to answer your question, Rori.
Primarily Inattentive.
Until recently, it was not recognised in this backward country.
04/01/10 Nikki
Primarily Inattentive.
Until recently, it was not recognised in this backward country.
7
Sorry to be showing ignorance Nikki; I know what ADHD stands for but what is P.I ?
Regards Rori
26/10/09 Rori
Regards Rori
3
He has been diagnosed retrospectively as having SpLd's and possibly ADHD, or at least being on the autistic spectrum.
He is a classic example of someone who struggled with formal learning, was declared to be a dunce at school ... and yet is one of the most revered Englishmen of all time. You don't need to be hyperactive with a capital H to have ADHD; I cannot comment on dyslexia, because I know little about it, but having a daughter with P.I. sub-type ADHD, I know a fair bit, plus I work in the field of child psychiatry.
26/10/09 Nikki
He is a classic example of someone who struggled with formal learning, was declared to be a dunce at school ... and yet is one of the most revered Englishmen of all time. You don't need to be hyperactive with a capital H to have ADHD; I cannot comment on dyslexia, because I know little about it, but having a daughter with P.I. sub-type ADHD, I know a fair bit, plus I work in the field of child psychiatry.
4
You write
"in fact some of THE MOST intelligent people were Dyslexic; examples of these being Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Woodrow Wilson."
Who diagnosed Churchill as dyslexic?
Churchill was born in 1874 and left school in 1893 long before Dyslexia was widely recognised. In the late 19th century Churchill worked as a war correspondent for The Morning Post. He was a prolific writer and in 1953 became the only British PM to be awarded the nobel prize for literature.
What precisely were Churchill's symptoms?
Thanks
26/10/09 GLC
"in fact some of THE MOST intelligent people were Dyslexic; examples of these being Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Woodrow Wilson."
Who diagnosed Churchill as dyslexic?
Churchill was born in 1874 and left school in 1893 long before Dyslexia was widely recognised. In the late 19th century Churchill worked as a war correspondent for The Morning Post. He was a prolific writer and in 1953 became the only British PM to be awarded the nobel prize for literature.
What precisely were Churchill's symptoms?
Thanks
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My 12 year old daughter was diagnosed with "mixed dysleia" 4 years ago. This means that she doesn't hear or see words like most of us do. She will never be able to spell because she can't sound words out or use sight recognition. But......she's gonna be okay because she's really smart and she has a memory like a steel trap. I had her professonally tested and they determined that although her spelling was only kindergarten level her long term memory was 2nd year college level. Who knew? Dyxlexia doesn't mean your dumb it just means that the way "normal" people learn is dumb to you.
18/04/09 pinkpeaches
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I attended parents evening tonight, only to be told that they think my 7 yr old is dyslexic, I don't really know much about this, as it does not run in either side of the family, and my eldest does not have it...I originally got called into school when he was in yr 1, and nothing was carried through, now he has changed schools within a few weeks of him being there they have noticed that their is a problem and are now going to test him...So yes I do believe that schools need to do more test for dyslexia..
14/10/08 Sam
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Dana